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One thing Australians seem to love are fireworks. Sydney-siders especially have a propensity to watch things explode. I’m not sure where this comes from. Their original origins as prisoners, convicts, troublemakers? Or they just like blowing stuff up. I for one, can’t blame them, they are pretty darn awesome.

While Sydney’s New Year’s Eve fireworks are some of the most well known and famous in the world, that is hardly the only occasion to see a large displace of pyrotechnics. Nearly EVERY Saturday night, a multitude of colour fills the sky above Darling Harbour, adjacent to the CBD/downtown, for 10 or so minutes. It’s quite a sight. Naturally, I wanted to go and find out what the fuss was about.

Finally got the backend of WordPress running again! Silly update broke something, so took a little longer than I expected…

Anyways, where was I…oh yes, I had arrived in Bondi after a pleasant walk from South Head…but wanted to continue further. I had a tasty mid-afternoon break with fish and chips before continuing south. Here I looked back at Bondi Beach stretching out.

Beyond providing a striking image when you get to the downtown, the Sydney Harbour also provides another great benefit to the city – allowing some excellent bushwalking. One of the most famous bushwalks in the city is the Spit Bridge to Manly Beach walk, a 10km stretch that takes you from a quiet residential area in Northern Sydney all the way to bustling Manly Beach – a great spot to finish a few hours of hiking, as you are once again surrounded by food, ice cream, and get to take a famous ferry back to the downtown.

Pictures don’t really make it look HUGE. Sure, it looks big, but I never felt they made it out to be the monstrosity that it is. I’m talking of course about the Sydney Harbour Bridge, aka the Coathanger. I set out on a grey morning to cross it and do some walking, but first I detoured and let the day warm up a bit. To give you an idea…

There are few things in Australia that are more instantly recognizable as Australian than Sydney’s Harbour (Uluru, Kangaroos and Koalas perhaps, and I’m sure it changes for everyone). Many countries have an item or two that, as soon as you see it, you know what city you are looking at. The Golden Gate Bridge, the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, Christ the Redeemer…and in Sydney’s case, the Opera House and Harbour Bridge rising behind it.